I just found out that my Hobie 3.5 is meant for sub 170 lb riders and I am about 250. It drafted deep(about to the top deck) but it didn't take on any water and sailed ok.

Am I risking messing something up on it to sail it? I got it for cheap and didn't know anything about it nor did the person selling it. only thing i had to replace was the rope, make up some rudder hardware and patch a sail tear.

you can get a few pics of my maiden voyage at www.runningbeforethewind.com

oh and i found your site by the recomendation while probing for information over at sailnet.com



edited by: gemiller, Jul 18, 2009 - 06:33 AM

not really dangerous, just real slow and not much fun, might tip it over a lot but you should be able to pull it up easily

get used to sailing it, and if you like it get something bigger

try to sail a hobie 16 with someone

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not really dangerous, just real slow and not much fun

like erice says, you will learn to sail on this and will very quickly want to move up to something a little more exciting.

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TurboHobo
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gemiller,

Welcome to the site and I'm glad you are getting into sailing, and thanks for the link on your blog.

But I got to say... the first thing that came to mind when I looked at your maiden voyage pictures was a quote from Jaws.

"We're gonna need a bigger boat."

The Hobie 3.5 was the very smallest catamaran Hobie ever built and you (and I) are not the smallest sailors.

The good news is you have a complete and desirable boat that someone would buy for their child so you can move up to at least a Hobie 16 and better a Hobie 18 or Nacra equivalent.

Clean the sails with some OxiClean or a mild mixture of Barkeepers friend.

The important thing, Keep Sailing!

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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Thanks for the comments everyone, lol I agree on the jaws quote damon!

It's a fun toy considering I with all the rope and repairs I did still got the whole thing for $150ish.

What I will probably do is just keep sailing on it this year and do a full resto on it this winter and keep it around and look for another bigger craft. Rumor has it there is someone around here that has a hobie 14 thats sorta new in good condit that desperately needs to get rid of it... maybe I'll just start my own personal regatta :)

as long as i'm not going to risk any damage i'll entertain myself with it :) like after getting the message on my phone that it won't break anything we, with much entertainment, stacked three people on it and sailed it half submerged for a few minutes to see what would happen. suprisingly with the right gust of wind we got it to come back up :) lol, wish I would have got pics it was funny watching three full size adults try to balace this thing while the legs were submerged a few inches! but it still took on no water!

Thanks so much for the replies and I'll definately be around a good bit here checking out all the awesome information and people :)

good idea to sail the hell out of it this summer

as for next year, at 250lbs don't even bother with the hobie14 unless it's a turbo with jib and dolphin striker

you are way heavier than my 165lbs and i hold down a 17foot nacra with 19m2 of sail area

as mentioned earlier you have the mass to make a hobie 16 or even 18 behave once you've gotten hold of the basics

and they are both a lot more fun to take 3 people out on

but hammer that 3.5 while you have it

kind of the 50cc scooter before you go the whole hog